The Reversed Change
by MorganvilleSwiftie
Summary: Michael, Eve, Claire, Shane and Claire and Shane's daughter, Carrie, are spending Christmas Day together when Michael gets a call. Things go from bad to worse when he gets a second call later on in the day and runs off to find Carrie. He then disappears downstairs with no explanation of why and his friends find he's changed. Again.
1. Chapter 1

**Christmas Wishes**

_**Carrie's POV**_

I woke up, sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains hanging by the window in my bedroom. I could feel someone shaking me, trying to get me up. I knew who it was. It was my dad. Shane Collins, famous for his love of zombie-killing video games, his expert chilli-making skills and his slacker ways. But he was my dad, and I loved him. Even when he woke me up at 7:30am just to open presents. He's worse than a five-year-old, I swear.

I groaned and rolled over, burying my face in my pillow.

"Go away, dad. It's too early! Come back later!" I complained, trying to keep the grin that was starting to form across my face from my voice.

"But it's Christmas!" he whined. He even sounded like a five-year-old sometimes.

I heard footsteps and felt my head shoot up. My mom was stood in the doorway, shoulders shaking with laughter. I gave her my best sarcastic smile.

"Lighten up a bit, Carrie. It's Christmas Day!" she said, still laughing. "Eve and Michael will be here soon, and you know Eve will come and drag you out of bed by your ear if you aren't downstairs when they get here."

The way my mom said that, so matter-of-factly, made me roll my eyes.

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked, sighing and flopping back down on my bed.

"Yeah, late enough now get up," my dad was starting to shake me again. I admitted defeat and crawled out of bed as slowly as I could, just to prove my point. Once I was up and stretched, I turned around to face my still-excited dad. The look I gave him wiped the smile off his face practically immediately. He ran out of the room, screaming like a girl on the way.

"Oh yeah, you better run! You're gonna pay for waking me up so early!" I yelled after him, following through with my word and chasing after him. I found him in the corner of his and mom's room, cowering like an idiot. I started to laugh, uncontrollably and he came forward, picked me up and started to tickle me.

"No!" I screamed, through tears of laughter. "No, dad! Please stop! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he was full-on laughing at me now.

"You want me to stop?" he said, trying not to laugh.

"Yes!" I screeched. I could barely get the words out.

"Okay, repeat after me: I, Carrie Alyssa Collins," he held back on the tickling so I could talk.

"I, Carrie Alyssa Collins," I repeated his words, still trying to get my breath back, and still laughing.

"Promise that, next Christmas," he said, hands ready to start tickling me again.

"Promise that, next Christmas," my laughs were starting to die down now, thankfully.

"I will get up _before _my dad so he doesn't have to waste present-opening time waking me up," he winked at me and grinned. Smug.

"I will get up _before_ my dad so he doesn't have to waste present-opening time waking me up," I repeated his final words and sat up. I saw mom stood a few feet behind us, tears of laughter streaming down her face. I have no idea how she laughs silently for so long.

"You two are ridiculous! What am I going to do with you?" she asked, wiping at the tears on her face.

Me and my dad looked at each other and pulled out our cheekiest grins. I had my mom's smile usually, but when I grinned cheekily, I was the spitting image of my dad. He reached out and ruffled my hair, then walked over to my mom and kissed her before wiping away the tears that were still rolling down her cheeks.

"Merry Christmas, beautiful," he whispered. "I love you."

"Ew, guys, that's gross! Get a room!" I said, interrupting the moment.

"We have one, you're just in it," my mom said. I gave her my best sarcastic-shocked face and gasped.

"Mother, you are not the one to usually make the witty comments! I thought that was father's job!" I put on my best Queen-British accent and winked. Then I ran off to have a shower and get dressed before Eve and Michael arrived.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Shane's POV**_

Me and Claire sat downstairs on the couch waiting for Carrie to finish up in the bathroom. I had my arm around Claire's waist and my chin rested on the top of her head. I was happy. Something I never thought I'd ever be again before I met Claire. But here I was, married for almost nineteen years with a sixteen-going-on-seventeen-year-old daughter. My little girl. Not so little anymore, but she'd inherited some of Claire's shortness, so she _technically_ was still my 'little' girl. Although, she hated me pointing that out to her.

We both looked up at the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. For a small girl, she sounded like a herd of elephants. Gotta love her. She came and sat down on my lap, pretty much shoving Claire out of the way. Claire grunted and pushed her back. They were more like best friends or sisters than mother and daughter.

"Hey! Ladies, calm down! Or at least, wait until I'm not in the middle," I said, putting myself between them. They both rolled their eyes and laughed at me. They never really fought or argued, which was surprising. Especially with Carrie being a teenager and all.

We heard a car door slam outside and a few seconds later there was a pounding on the door. Eve and Michael were here! Carrie got up and ran, almost vampire speed, to the door. She swung it open, revealing mine and Claire's best friends. We were all soon hugging and Eve was squealing. Huh, Carrie thought I was bad. I smiled to myself and welcomed my friends with hugs.

"Oh my God it's Christmas!" Eve practically yelled in my ear when I hugged her, I could feel the jittery excitement in her and I knew she was fighting hard to not be jumping up and down; I could feel the tension in her muscles. I saw Carrie roll her eyes over Eve's shoulder.

"I know!" I yelled back, doing my best little kid impression, - jumping up and down included - just to get another eye roll from Carrie. I got one.

Satisfied, we all walked into the living room where Claire was talking to Michael about Morganville and how him and Eve had been since we last saw them. It had been quite a while. Me and Claire moved out of Morganville just before Carrie was born. I refused to bring up my child in that godforsaken town, and it didn't take much convincing to get Claire to move either. We'd moved to a town that was about a three hour drive from Morganville, so we only saw Michael and Eve a few times a year, usually on birthdays and Christmas. As much as I missed my best friends, I knew we'd made the right choice as soon as I saw my baby girl for the first time. Her bright blue eyes staring up at me as I held her in my arms, promising to always keep her safe from any dangers that might ever come her way.

Someone was waving a hand in front of my face, causing me to snap out of my thought bubble. It was Carrie.

"Hellooo, earth to daddy! Anyone in there?" I smiled, still staring off into space. "Nope, he's officially gone crazy. Look," she waved her hand in front of me again. "See? No response at all." She'd turned her back to me to talk to the others, so I took the opportunity to pick her up, throw her over my shoulder and carry her out into to snow-covered garden. I dropped her – gently – onto a pile of snow, where she sat pouting. Michael came out after me and burst out laughing when he saw her facial expression. I had to admit, it was funny. She folded her arms across her chest, mainly because she was trying to act like she was angry, but also because she was sat in the snow and she was cold.

After a few minutes I took pity on her and held out my hand to help her up. She took it and pulled me down so I ended up with a face full of snow. _You should've seen that one coming, Shane._ I told myself. She was stood up now, laughing with Michael. I balled up some snow and threw it at her, but it missed and hit Michael instead. He stopped laughing and stared at me, a smile forming on his lips. He reached down and picked up some snow to throw back at me, again missing and hitting Carrie. We ended up having a huge snowball fight that lasted almost half an hour before Carrie started shivering and complaining of the cold.

When we went in, Claire and Eve took one look at the three of us and told us to get changed. Our clothes were soaked through with ice-cold water from the melted snow. We all dropped our heads like naughty kids do and made our way upstairs like little troopers. Carrie tripped over some decorations that had fallen from the bottom branches of the over-sized Christmas tree on her way to the stairs and threw them at the nearest wall. She was so much like me it scared me. She hadn't thrown the decorations out of anger or frustration. She'd thrown them because they got in her way and she needed to get revenge. _So much like me._ She got a laugh out of me and Michael and eventually gave in to the fact that it was funny and started laughing with us.

This was going to be an unforgettable Christmas, I could just tell.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

_**Claire's POV**_

Me and Eve took one look at Shane, Carrie and Michael and sent them all upstairs to get changed. They were soaked through with melted snow and Carrie was shivering. I shook my head as they sauntered out the kitchen, one behind the other, heads down. Me and Eve chuckled before turning back to focus on not burning the turkey like we had last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And they ye- okay you see the point. But we were determined to get it right this year.

Twenty minutes later, we heard a crash at the bottom of the stairs and ran out to make sure everything was okay. Turns out, it was. Shane had smelt the turkey and come running down the stairs, tripping over a pile of my books and falling straight into Michael, who toppled over and into a box of unused Christmas tree decorations according to a doubled-over Carrie. That was…weirdly believable.

"Stop laughing!

_**Eve's POV**_

Me and Claire both burst out into a fit of giggles once Carrie had finished telling us what had happened. It was so typically Shane. Good to know some things don't change. Michael was still on the floor with his head in a box of decorations that seemed to be unwanted. I could see his shoulders shaking so I guessed he was also laughing, or trying hard not to. Shane got up off the floor looking a little dazed and stumbling around in circles for a minute or two trying to get his balance back. Carrie was lying on the floor clutching her stomach and yelling out in pain because of how long she'd been laughing. I wiped tears from my cheeks and held out my hand to Michael. He took it and I hauled him to his feet. He kissed me and stepped back, treading on Carrie, who was still in a fit of laughter.

"Ow! Michael watch it!" she said, gasping for air.

"Oh, God sorry Carrie!" he looked genuinely sorry and like he'd kicked a puppy. She picked herself up, using the stairs for support, and gave her dad a look.

"Why you gotta be so obsessed with Christmas? What's so good about turkey? Mom and Eve overcook it every single year!" I went to interrupt her and tell her to watch her mouth when I realised that it was true.

"Sorry sweetie," Shane said and looked down at his feet. She smirked and stood up. Shane opened up his arms and she fell into his embrace, hugging back tightly. He kissed the top of her head and whispered something in her ear. Her blue eyes lit up as she nodded her head at whatever Shane had said. They looked at Claire, who looked confused for a moment, then they both ran off in different directions. Claire's eyes widened and she took off after Carrie.

"Michael, stop Shane!" she yelled back over her shoulder. Michael looked at me confused before shaking his head and running off. I had no idea what was going on, but figured Shane and Carrie must be causing some sort of mischief for Claire to react like that. She was usually so laid back.

_**Claire's POV**_

I found Carrie exactly where I thought she would be. The basement. There were about seven red socks in her hand and she was going through all the white laundry. Shane came down with more red socks – where they'd got them all I'll never know – and went to give them to Carrie when he saw me. He smiled at me like a six-year-old would when they know they've done something wrong.

"Wanna explain to me why you're trying to make _your _underwear pink?" I asked him. I saw a look cross his face and he blushed. Michael was stood at the top of the stairs with his eyebrows raised. Eve came in shortly after.

"Feel free to put the red socks in there, but it's you that will complain when all your white clothes are pink," I said, looking him straight in the eye with one of my eyebrows raised.

Carrie looked up. The amount of socks in her hand had doubled and she handed them all back to Shane. He took them and put them on a different laundry pile. I laughed and hugged them both, Carrie in the middle with her head on Shane's chest. We pulled away and headed back up to the kitchen.

"Oh hey, guys it's Christmas!" Shane yelled from the living room.

"Yeah, no kidding loser," Eve yelled back. She stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Oh my God! Presents!" We'd all completely forgotten about the presents piled up under the tree.

Shane came in and grabbed Carrie's hand and pulled her into the living room with Eve hot at his heels. We all sat in a circle and started handing out presents. We agreed that the oldest should go first and the youngest last. Carrie, as you can imagine, didn't like this at all. But she went along with it because she knew the longer they argued about it, the longer it would take for her to get to open her presents. Michael went first, then Shane, then Eve and then me. Carrie was last. There was a reason we'd made her go last, but she didn't know it. Shane got up and left the room to get her 'big' present. She opened the rest of them while he was out of the room. They were mostly clothes.

_**Carrie's POV**_

Most of my presents were new clothes, like normal. Eve had bought me the cutest dress and shoes to match. Michael had bought me a bracelet with my name on. I gave them both a hug and thanked them. Mom gave me her present next. It was some CDs and DVDs that I'd wanted for ages!

"Thank you mom!" I said while smiling ear-to-ear.

Dad came back in the room then, dragging a box-shaped present with him. I got up and he handed me a card too. I ripped the wrapping paper from the box and stared at it for a few seconds, my mouth hanging open.

"I- Dad, thank you!" he'd bought me a new laptop. Mine had broken months ago and I'd been using one of mom's old ones. I'd asked for a new one for my birthday, but he'd said no because I "had one that worked". I opened the box to make sure it was real. It was. I jumped up and down with excitement and threw my arms around my dad's neck.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I screamed in his ear. He hugged me back.

"You're welcome, baby girl," he whispered. "You deserve it," he kissed the top of my head and stepped back.

I smiled to myself. Eve and mom ran into the kitchen suddenly. They must have remembered the turkey. Wow, they really were determined to get it right this year. The smoke alarm went off and I smelt the burning turkey. Me, Michael and dad all shook our heads and went to try and save the turkey. Again.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Michael's POV**_

The turkey was, somehow, okay. I can't remember the last time I'd had a Christmas lunch that _wasn't _burnt to ashes. Probably before my mom and dad left Morganville. We all sat down at the dinner table, Carrie chatting away to Eve about something (probably girl stuff) and Claire was still in the kitchen. I took the opportunity to talk to Shane because besides the snowball fight we'd had earlier, we hadn't really had a full conversation all day.

"So, Shane," I started, not quite sure how to carry it on.

"What's up, bro?" he looked up from his already-full plate. Some people never change.

"Got enough to eat there, dad?" Carrie asked, interrupting us. Shane pulled a face and stuck his tongue out at her. She raised her eyebrows and gave him an I-Asked-You-A-Question-Aren't-You-Going-To-Answer-Me look.

"Nope," he said and grabbed some food off her plate. She came round the table and took it back.

"That was not fair! Mom!" she yelled over her shoulder to Claire, who had just come out of the kitchen.

I saw Shane reach out and take Carrie's entire plate from where she was sat.

"Shane, Carrie please for the love of God, behave! Shane, you are not five, give Carrie her food back. Carrie, sit down. Now," she gave them both a stern look and sat down to eat her own dinner. Carrie and Shane both looked down and I saw a smile creep onto both of their faces. Shane's shoulders were shaking and I could see tears rolling down Carrie's cheeks. They were both laughing.

Claire and Eve turned to each other and started talking. Carrie started eating while trying desperately to stop laughing. I restarted mine and Shane's conversation.

"So, Shane," I said again, shovelling food into my mouth.

"Yes, Michael. Where were we before we were so _rudely interrupted_ by a certain sixteen-year-old who thinks she knows everything?" he said, shooting a look at Carrie and getting a glare back.

"How's it going?" I asked. Not really sure what else to say.

"Great. Claire got me a new video game, wanna play it later?" his face was lit up when he mentioned the game.

"Dude, when have I _ever _turned down a chance to kick some Collins' ass?" He laughed at me.

"Man, I can kick your ass at Guitar Hero and you play the real guitar. You'll never beat me in a zombie-killing game. I'm the master of zombie-killing video games," he smirked and looked extremely happy with himself.

"Things change, bro. Things change," I grinned and he grinned back. We started eating as fast as we could, desperate to grab the TV first so we could start up the PlayStation.

"Dad. You're a forty-year-old man. That is not something to be proud of," Carrie said, rolling her eyes.

"Carrie, I am not forty _yet_. Stop making me look old. Also, not something to be proud of? That's not what your last boyfriend said. You know, the one who came round that once to see _me _not _you _just so he could see how good I really was? Yeah, I kicked his butt and he congratulated me. Said I was sick. In a good way," Shane, everyone thought, had won that argument. Being Shane's daughter, however, Carrie had an even better comeback. Of course. We really should stop underestimating her.

"Dad, you _look_ forty, so I'm not _making _you look old. Stop lying. My last boyfriend did not come round to see _you, _he came round to see _me. _You just wanted to 'get to know him' so you knew if he was 'good enough' for me or not. He congratulated you so you wouldn't kick him out and tell me I could never see him again. Said you were sick. In a _bad _way. Get it right," Shane didn't have anything to say to that. Nothing. Not a word.

We all looked at Shane, waiting for him to say something. Apparently, they'd gone into a staring – well, more like glaring – contest.

"Wow," Claire said. "Carrie won. Shane has _nothing _to say. I never thought I'd see the day that happened."

Carrie looked away first, leaving an over-proud smile on Shane's face.

_**Shane's POV**_

After lunch, I helped Carrie set up her new laptop while Michael set up the PlayStation and got the controls working. She said she could do it herself. I guess I still just see her as a toddler, waddling around, needing – and wanting – help with everything. I did help her put all her photographs and videos and music on there though. We sat next to each other on her bedroom floor going through them all. There were thousands on there. She had pictures from every year of her life. Some of the childhood ones she skipped right over. They must have been her 'embarrassing' takes. Personally, I didn't think any of them were embarrassing, but then I wouldn't; I'm her dad. There were also some home videos from when she was little that I asked her to play. She did, to my surprise, even if she was a little reluctant. She clicked on the first one and the playback screen popped up. A five-year-old Carrie was looking up at the camera, curly hair in braids, smiling with chocolate around her mouth. She clicked the play button.

"_Hey Carrie. What you got on your face?"_

**My voice came from off the screen. I must have been the one holding the camera.**

_She put her hand over her mouth and looked up with those big blue eyes._

"_Umm...nothing!" she said, giggling._

"_You sure?" I asked. "Looks like chocolate. Have you been eating chocolate?"_

"_No," she said, eyes wide._

"_Mmm, hmm,"_

**I could picture the face I would be pulling right now. Eyebrows raised, smiling.**

"_Come on, you're gonna be late for school," I said, wiping her face. Claire came down the stairs with Carrie's backpack in one hand and her car keys in the other._

"_Ready?" she asked and walked over, pulling Carrie into a big hug. "My little girl's going to big-girl school!" she said smiling down at her daughter._

The video came to an end and Carrie clicked the next one. It was a few years later. She was ten.

"_Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad!" Carrie yelled, running out of the kitchen and right into me._

"_What, what, what, what, what?" I asked, matching her enthusiasm and excitement and wrapping her in a hug._

"_Guess who's touring and is coming back to Texas?" her eyes looked up at me, bright and wide._

"_Oh, oh! I got this one! The Killers? Please tell me it's The Killers?" I knew it wasn't, but it made me laugh when she rolled her eyes and had to correct me._

"_No! Dad, why would I be excited about The Killers touring here? Sure, they're good, but it's you that gets excited when they're touring," she said._

"_So, you gonna tell me who?" I asked although I already knew._

"_Carrie Underwood!" she screamed and started jumping up and down. "Can we go? Please, please, please, please, please?"_

"_Um, sure I guess. But I've heard they don't let you in the doors if you don't have tickets," I said and pulled out three tickets. Front row. "So you might need these."_

_Carrie started screaming even louder and jumping on the couch._

"_Thank you! You are the __**best **__dad ever!"_

The screen went blank. I'm pretty sure I remember Carrie running into Claire and knocking the camera out of her hand.

"I remember that concert," Carrie sighed, snapping me out of my thought bubble. "Front row. Carrie Underwood _touched my hand!_ Like, she actually touched my hand! Best night of my life so far!"

"Shut up! You only like her because she has the same name as you," I said looking across at her and winking.

"Sure I do," she said, winking back.

"Carrie! Shane!" Claire was yelling up the stairs to us. "Shane, Michael's waiting for you! Carrie, Eve has something to tell you!"

We looked at each other and, in a silent – almost telepathic – agreement, raced each other downstairs.

**A/N: Okay, I didn't even think about the fact that Carrie Underwood and Carrie Collins have the same name until I got to the conversation between Carrie and Shane after the second home video. I wrote her in because I'm a huge fan of Carrie Underwood. ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

Carrie's POV

Dad got downstairs first, but he did push me out of the way at one point, so I think I won. I got to the living room and saw everyone sat on the couch watching the zombie killing that was going on, on the TV.

Festive. I thought to myself.

"You know, they really should have Christmas hats on or sing Jingle Bells or something," I said, breaking the silence and sitting down on the chair by the Christmas tree.

"Why's that?" Michael asked without looking up from the screen. He really must have been determined to beat dad. Good luck, Michael. I thought.

"Because it's Christmas?" It came out as a question that had a bit of attitude behind it. Whoops.

"What the attitude, missy," dad said, him too not looking up.

I pulled a face behind his back – not that he would've noticed if I pulled a face right in front of him at the moment – and turned to Eve.

"So, you had something to tell me?" I asked.

"Yes! Guess what?" she said. She seemed excited.

"Umm..." I thought for a moment. "Nope, I got nothin'. What's happening?"

"I was looking out the window earlier and the cutest guy walked passed!" Michael looked up at this.

"Hey! I know I look about half your age, but I'm still cute!" he said it with his bottom lip jutted out.

"Excuse me! I look no where near double your age! I look 21. Don't you dare say anything to that, Shane Collins," she said that last bit with her finger raised. Not that dad took any notice, his eyes were still glued to the screen. I don't think he was even paying attention to what was going on around him in the real world.

"Anyway...you saw the cutest guy ever earlier and..." I said, trying to pull Eve's focus back to the conversation we'd been having.

"And...he looked about your age! You should date him! He was so cute and I'm sure your mom and - well probably just your mom - would approve!"

"Eve, I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now. They're all idiots," I said matter-of-factly. It was true. In my eyes, every single boy in this town was an idiot. "Thanks for the thought though. I appreciate it!"

"But he was so cute! He looked like the type of guy who would be a total sweetheart too!"

"Eve, shut up. She is not having a boyfriend. They're not good for her." dad had – finally – looked up from the game. "She's too young and, like she said, they're all idiots."

"Hey, I've had boyfriends before!" I snapped. He looked me in the eye.

"Carrie, I don't care if you've had boyfriends before. You can wait until you're older to have another one. No arguments. I'm your dad, you do as I say," Well, I thought. That's the end of that.

Just then, mom came in with a DVD in her hand.

"Look what I found lying on your bedroom floor," she winked at me and I read the disk. It was the baby videos me and dad had been watching.

"Oh God," I sighed and leaned back against the cushions, closing my eyes.

"Aw, come on Carrie! You were an adorable baby!" she said giving me a hug.

"Yeah, but...what about dad and Michael? They won't appreciate being interrupted mid-game to watch some videos of me when I was a kid!" I said, desperate to avoid having to watch them. "It's not like you haven't already seen everything on there. You did film them."

"Eve and Michael haven't," mom said, waving the disk in front of me.

"Oh, baby videos! Come on, Carrie! Please," Eve gave me puppy dog eyes.

Great, I've lost this one too.

**A/N: Sorry this one's a bit shorter than the others. I don't have time to make it longer, but I wanted to update tonight.**

**Please R&R! Also, I'm leaving this up to you (maybe) - do you want them to watch the home videos, or should Carrie get her way? If you want them to, please give me some ideas for what could happen in them (e.g. what age Carrie is, who's in it, where they are etc.).**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Michael's POV**_

Claire and Carrie were still arguing about the videos. There was a smile tugging at the corners of Shane's lips when Claire mentioned the words 'summer', 'ice cream', 'beach' and 'sea' in one video description. I knew he wanted to say something to Carrie to get her to let us watch the videos, but I knew he didn't like forcing her to do something she didn't want to do. I'd also heard them watching videos earlier, so maybe that was a I-Always-Get-My-Own-Way kind of look.

I could hear Eve laughing and looked up at her smiling. There were tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks, which made me want to laugh with her. I knew Shane wouldn't let me stop the game though, so I didn't.

My phone started ringing and it got me a glare from Shane.

"That better be someone important Mikey. If it isn't, I'm throwing your phone out the window," he said sternly and it was kind of intimidating. Being a dad gave him an unofficial authority that seemed to work on everyone. I took the phone out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. It was Amelie. I showed it to Shane, who groaned and rolled his eyes. He paused the video game.

"Whatever. Answer it. Don't keep the queen waiting, she doesn't like it," he sounded pissed off. To be honest, I don't blame him. I was too.

"Hello?" it came out as a question, which wasn't what I'd intended.

"Michael, I need a word," the cold, emotionless voice cut through the silence that wasn't really there, but it felt like it. Me and Amelie hadn't been on good terms for a while now. Not since me and Eve had gotten married really.

"I'm listening," I said. I tried to sound nice, but I knew it sounded harsh and I knew it annoyed her.

"This has gone on long enough. I know you will not be happy about this, but you will never look any older than eighteen. The fact that your... wife looks twice your age is a bit-"

"Shut up. Just shut up right now," I yelled down the phone. Everyone went silent. They were all looking at me.

"Michael Glass do not speak to me like that," she didn't shout, but I could tell she wanted to.

"I don't think you have the right to tell me what to do, Amelie. You are not, and will not ever be my mother. If you want to give me a lecture, call her. I'm sure she'll listen," I wanted to punch her in the face. Could you blame me though? "You can't tell me who I can and can't love. You have no right to comment on my love life," That wasn't strictly true. She could stop me and Eve seeing each other by clicking her fingers. She could make me do anything she wanted me to.

I looked up at Eve. She was staring at me, eyes wide and mouth hanging open a little. I watched the change in emotion on her face. I saw the tears glistening in her eyes and I wanted to run over to her and hold her forever. I wanted to prove to her that everything was okay. Then I saw the sadness pass like a wave, and anger shone in her eyes.

"I have every right to tell you what to do. I could make your life a living hell if I wanted to. I could make Eve's life a living hell. You know if I really felt like it, I could find a way to make Shane and Claire's life a living hell. Or their daughter – what's her name? Cassie?" she was right. I was treading on thin ice, but no way could she make me leave Eve. No way.

"It's Carrie, and you dare do that and I'll make sure you regret it. You'll wish you'd never said a word about me and Eve. I promise,"

"What the hell did she say about Carrie?" Shane was sat up looking at me with a look that would kill me if looks could kill.

"Nothing. Don't worry, she won't go anywhere near Carrie," I said, making sure Amelie heard just how serious I was. Although, I know everyone in the room saw the flash of worry cross my face. I couldn't stop it.

As much as I wanted mine and Eve's relationship to be okay, the last thing I wanted was for anything to happen to Carrie. She didn't deserve it. She'd never even set foot in Morganville. She didn't know the secrets. She didn't know the stories. She had nothing to do with that town. Shane didn't deserve it either. He'd waited his entire life to be happy before Claire came along. She's really turned his life around and given him everything to live for. Letting something happen to his daughter – his _only_ child – would be the worst thing for me. I'd never forgive myself. Shane would never, ever forgive me. Hell, I don't think Claire would ever forgive me and she's the most forgiving person I've ever met.

I hung up the phone. I didn't want to hear the rest of what Amelie had to say. I didn't care what she had to say. I knew it would all be threats and I knew most of them would be empty threats. She'd been throwing them at me since I was _actually_ eighteen. You learn to ignore them. Not the smartest idea, I know, but I've learned that, if you don't bring the issue up while talking to Amelie face-to-face, she'll let you be.

I could hear Claire talking to Carrie in the background. My thoughts were too loud to realise that Carrie was upset. Scared. Confused. It was only when she came and sat by Shane, her face buried in the crook of his neck, crying, that I snapped out of it. Shane was trying to calm her down but it wasn't working. I had to do something. This was my fault, after all.

"Hey, Carrie," I said, soothingly. I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked up at me. I pulled her into a hug and she held on tight. Her shoulders were shaking and the sobs were coming all the way from her toes by the feel of it. "Shh. It's okay. Nothing's going to happen to you, don't worry. You're safe. No one will let anything happen to you."

It seemed to be working. The sobs were dying down and her iron grip on my t shirt wasn't as tight as it had been. I was stroking her hair too. I had no idea how to be a parent, but I'd always wanted to be one. Me and Eve had taken care of Carrie plenty of times when she was little while Shane and Claire went out. You pick it up, even when you don't have kids. I'd also seen how they talk to her when she's upset. How they hold her and make her feel safe.

She'd stopped crying now, but was still gripping my t shirt. She reminded me of Claire and how she'd held on with all she had when she was scared or upset. I saw the tension go out of Shane as his shoulders dropped back to their normal position. The frown on his face disappeared too. He smiled at me and looked at his daughter. Claire came up to us with a bowl of ice cream in her hand. Carrie looked up and smiled when she saw it. She took it from her mom and started eating it, too quickly, causing her to get an ice cream headache. She started hitting her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" she said. It passed quickly though, and she was eating the ice cream again in a few seconds. She crawled over to where Shane was on the couch and curled up by his side. He pulled her up onto his lap and put his arms around her, holding on tight. She was probably too big to sit on his lap, but he didn't care. She was his little girl, no matter how big she was. In a way, I knew how he felt. I'd watched her grow up and I often looked at her as my own. She knew she could come to me and Eve with anything, just like she could with Claire and Shane, and we'd always treated her like our own daughter.

She grabbed the TV remote from Shane's hand and turned the PlayStation off.

"Excuse me! Who do you think you are?" he said. She looked up and gave him the sweetest I'm-Innocent-I-Don't-Know-What-You're-Talking-About smile.

"I wanna watch the TV!" she said. Shane gave in. I knew he would.

_**Shane's POV**_

Carrie flicked through the channels for a while trying to find something good to watch. She found Miracle on 34th Street on one channel and we all squished on to the couch to watch it. Claire and Eve were crying within the first five minutes. I didn't understand how. They're girls though, I don't think I'll ever understand.

"Dad?" Carrie whispered, she was looking up at me.

"Yes, sweetheart?" I whispered back. I've learnt with Carrie that when she whispered, you whispered back. It was how she worked.

"Who's Amelie? What did she say about me?" she looked scared. I hugged her tighter and rocked her back and forth a little.

"She's just someone important. Sort of like Michael's...boss," that technically wasn't a lie. She was everyone's boss in Morganville. "She didn't say anything about you, don't worry."

"So why did Michael say my name then tell her not to do something?" she asked. She had a point, but I don't know what she'd said. He hadn't told me.

I pulled back a little to look her in the eyes. I moved the hair from her face and put my hands on her cheeks.

"Carrie, sweetie, I don't want you to worry about anything, okay? Amelie can't come anywhere near you without going against her own laws. That would lead to a lot of upset and chaos in Morganville and she doesn't want that. Trust me, okay?" I wanted her to feel safe. I wanted her to know that I wouldn't let anyone hurt her, no matter how hard they tried. I'd proved that when it came to boyfriends, but Amelie and boyfriends were very different. For one, Amelie is a vampire. She's also the founder of a town. She, technically, has a higher authority than me. Carrie's boyfriends don't.

Sixteen years and we hadn't heard a thing from Amelie. No threats. No warnings. Not even a birthday or Christmas card. She'd stuck to her promise and left us alone. I assumed she'd made a threat to Michael earlier when he said he wouldn't let her do anything. A threat against Carrie. Maybe even me and Claire. Probably Eve too.

"You're sure?" she asked. She still sounded worried. I smiled and nodded and she put her head back on my chest. "Why would she be going against all her own laws if she hurt me?"

"There are...rules in Morganville. Rules that she's set. Rules that will cause a major uproar if she goes against them. Rules that _aren't_ made to be broken," I knew I had to watch what I said. The last thing I wanted was to say something that would result in me, Claire and Carrie being hunted down and dragged to Morganville.

"I thought all rules were made to be broken," she said. I realised I'd told her that her entire life. I grinned.

"They are. Just some more than others, y'know?" she laughed and turned back to the film.

I just wish there was a way to convince Amelie that there would never be any problems between Eve and Michael. They both deserve it. Michael especially; he never wanted this. You know how people make a wish when they blow out their birthday candles, or when the time is 11:11, or when they see a shooting star? Can you make a wish at Christmas? Wish on the star at the top of the tree? If you could, I know I'd wish for Michael to be human. Or at least for Amelie to leave them alone. For him to be able to pursue a career in music like he'd wanted to since I've known him. A real career in music, instead of working in a music store and playing at the local coffee shop whenever he could. It's not fair on him. He wanted to be able to start a family with Eve and they can't. All because of the damn vampires. Because they can't control their needs. Because he got too close to one once. One who decided to suck the human life out of him. I feel really sorry for him. I sometimes wish we'd stayed in Morganville just so Claire could carry on working with Myrnin. I hate Myrnin, but they might have come up with a way to reverse the process of becoming a vampire. They might have come up with a way that allows humans and vampires to have children. I know that's wishful thinking, but it might have happened.

You never know what will happen until you try.

**A/N: So I decided to make this chapter a little more dramatic. I wanted something to happen that would change the course of the story so far, but I didn't want to give the rest of the story away completely. I guess I wanted to leave you guessing what would happen next! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Carrie's POV**_

Was I scared? Not really. Sure, I was worried. I don't know who Amelie is. I don't know what she wants – if she wants anything – with me. I don't know what I've done. I was more nervous than anything. I tried to push everything that had happened to the back of my mind and focus on the film. It was my favourite Christmas movie after all. There was something about Amelie, though, that I couldn't stop thinking about. I've never met her, but I can picture her face in my head like she's my best friend. It's really strange. I don't know if the person I'm seeing is even _Amelie_, maybe she's just someone else I've met called Amelie. I had a strong feeling it was her though. I'll have to check with mom or dad later. Describe the woman I can see in my head. Surely they'll be able to tell me if it bares any resemblance to the real person.

_Forget about it, Carrie. _I told myself. _Dad said there's nothing to worry about. He won't let anyone – or anything – hurt you. Got it?_

I was lecturing myself in my head. I didn't want to know who Amelie was. I didn't want anything to do with her. I buried my face in the crook of my dad's neck and closed my eyes. I was trying to fall asleep. It would help me calm down a little, and that is what I really need right now.

My dad started stroking my hair like he did when I was a still a baby. When I was still a little girl. When I used to wake up in the middle of the night after having a nightmare and he was trying to get me to calm down and go back to sleep. Maybe he guessed I wanted to go to sleep. He has a way of knowing what I'm thinking and feeling. Maybe it was just an automatic thing. I don't know. Thinking about all of this was helping me keep my mind off... other things. I sometimes like to pretend I'm still five years old when I'm sat on my dad's lap. I know most sixteen-year-olds want to be twenty-five, but I don't. I don't want to grow up. I wish I could still be little.

I smile to myself remembering how I used to look up at my dad – and even my mom when I was really small – and think he was a giant. I used to think his hands were bigger than Texas, which doesn't really make sense as they're not as big as the cushions on the couch, let a lone the entire state we live in. I used to be able to lie full-length on top of him with my head at his shoulders, and my toes would only just reach his waist. I have a picture of me like that taped to the mirror in my bedroom.

I was thinking a lot. I soon found myself struggling to keep my eyes open, so I closed them and let myself drift into sleep.

**Claire's POV**

I watched Carrie's eyes close as she fell asleep. She was smiling, which made me smile. She's such a positive person.

Eve had a death grip on my hand and was sobbing, tears streaming down her face, with a tissue pressed to her cheek.  
"God, I don't remember this film being so sad," she said while trying to catch her breath.

"It isn't," Shane said. "You're just over-emotional. It's barely sad at all."

"Shane, don't be so heartless. It's very sad. If you admitted defeat and showed that men feel sad from time to time, you'd be in tears too," Eve snapped. Or tried to. It didn't have the snark behind it like it usually does.

I was crying too. Not as much as Eve, but the tears were there. The credits came on and Eve let out a long breath.

"Hey guys, while Carrie's asleep do you want to watch some of those videos?" I asked. They all looked at Carrie, surprised. They mustn't have known that she'd fallen asleep.

I stood up to put the disk in the DVD player and started it up. There were only a few videos on this one, but two of my favourites were there.

_**Video #1**_

**Carrie was sat on Michael's knee. He had his guitar on his lap and was playing one of my favourite songs of his. It was called _'Two Is Better Than One'_ and it reminded me of Shane. **_(A/N: Originally by Boys Like Girls – check it out? It's an amazing song!)_

"**Maybe it's twuuuuuueee that I can't live without you, and maybe twooooooo is better than one," Carrie was singing and me and Eve were laughing at her. She had a lisp and couldn't pronounce 'r's properly, so it was adorable.**

**Michael finished playing the song and we all started applauding her.**

"**Woo! Go Care Bear!" Shane yelled from behind the camera. (Care Bear was Carrie's childhood nickname - Eve thought it would be 'cool' to have Care Bear and Claire Bear, so she'd started calling Carrie Care Bear and it had stuck -) she looked up at him, obviously she hadn't realised he was filming it, and hid behind a cushion.**

**The last thing we saw was Michael reaching behind the cushion to tickle her.**

"I thought I said not to watch any!" Carrie had woken up. I looked over at her and saw her trying not to smile.

"Sorry sweetie, they're just so cute! Do you know how hard it is to have them sat there not being watched?" I asked. She raised an eyebrow and sighed.

"One more. One. You can watch _one _more video," she said.

_**Video #2**_

"**Hey, Care Bear, that ice cream looks delicious," Shane was sat on a beach towel drinking a bottle of water. He had his toes buried in the sand. _I seem to remember that being because of Carrie._**

"**Yeah, it is and you can't have any!" Carrie stuck her tongue out at him and turned away.**

"**Aw, please? It's real hot out today, and I don't have any," Shane was pouting with his arms crossed over his chest.**

"**No! It's mine! Go get yourself one if you want some," she had a point. It was melting around the edges and I could see Shane staring at it, knowing that if she didn't hurry up and eat it, it would end up on the floor.**

"**You gonna eat that?" He asked, pointing to the dripping ice cream that was gathering around her fingers.**

**She looked down at it and started eating it. I could tell she had brain freeze from the look on her face, but it didn't stop her. Shane sighed and went over to the bag to get her a wipe. He handed it to her and she held it back out to him.**

"**Wipe your own face," he said, sticking out his tongue.**

"**I can't!" she exclaimed. "I can't see it!"**

**Shane looked down at her and knew he'd lost the argument. He took the wipe from her and cleaned her face.**

"**Can we make a sand castle?" he asked, pulling her bucket and spade out of the back.**

"**Yeah!" she said. She started jumping up and down and clapping her hands.**

"Told you they were adorable!" Eve said to Carrie, who was staring at the screen with red cheeks.

"That's embarrassing," she said and put her face in her hands.

"Aw, wanna sing a song, Care Bear?" Michael asked, putting on a baby voice that made us all laugh.

"I'm okay, but thanks for the offer," she said with a smile.

"Anytime," he got up and threw a PlayStation remote at Shane. Well, at Shane's face. But Shane caught it and grinned.

"You ever try and hit me in the face with a PlayStation remote again and I'll kill you. Promise," he said, completely serious.

"I'll take that into consideration," Michael replied with a wink. Men. What would we do without them?

There was a knock at the door and Carrie ran to get it.

"Oh God, I thought it was a no-boyfriends-allowed-today day?" Shane asked, sighing.

"She has a boyfriend?" Eve asked.

"Yep. Jake," Shane said. He hadn't approved of any of Carrie's boyfriends, but Austin was his favourite so far I think.

"Mom!" she yelled from the hallway, "Where did you put Ally's Christmas present?"

I looked at Shane, hoping he'd remember. He pointed under the Christmas tree and I saw it. Huh, clever me, thinking of putting a Christmas present under the Christmas tree. I sighed and got up to retrieve it. Once I had it, I walked out into the hallway to see Carrie stood with a snow-covered, shivering Ally. The front door was wide open.

"Shut the door! Poor Ally's freezing!" I said, rolling my eyes. I passed her the present and she gave it to Ally, who hugged her and walked back out to her parent's car that was sat at the end of the driveway. I waved to her mom, who waved back.

"Merry Christmas, Claire!" she called. "Tell Shane that Austin said happy Christmas,"

"Okay, will do! Merry Christmas!" I called back.

Carrie went to shut the door before swinging it back open. I only just caught it before it hit the wall.

"Ally! Merry Christmas!" She cried.

"Merry Christmas, Carrie!" She yelled back.

We walked back into the living room.

"That didn't sound like a boy," Eve said to Shane.

"Yeah, it wasn't that's why," Shane snapped.

"No kidding," Eve replied. Carrie was looking at them with her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, no that was my best friend, Ally," she explained to Eve. "Dad, we agreed no boyfriends today,"

"Yeah, I know," he said. He was too busy focusing on killing more zombies than Michael that he couldn't really have a proper conversation.

Me, Eve and Carrie walked into the kitchen to talk girl stuff. Boys mostly. Carrie's boyfriend mostly.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Claire's POV**_

I looked at the clock on the wall above the TV. It was getting late; 6:25pm already. The sun was starting to set, so I got up and closed the curtains to block out the darkness that would soon appear. Shane and Eve were arguing about which was better out of _CSI: New York_ and _CSI: Miami_ (Eve said Miami, Shane said New York. I had to agree with Shane on this one, although I like _CSI: Crime Scene Investigation_ best). Carrie was sat with Michael, who was teaching her some of the basic chords on guitar. She had a guitar that me and Shane had bought her for her eleventh birthday propped on her knee that I'd forgotten she owned. She tried to learn once but said she didn't have the patience, so gave up. I think she just didn't like her teacher. I didn't either; he was always quite harsh and it seemed to me like _he _was the impatient one.

I watched Carrie get confused when Michael gave her a pop quiz on how to play the chords. She got frustrated with a few of them too, but Michael had been teaching guitar for longer than she'd been alive, so he knew how to deal with it. He drew out some diagrams and showed her ways to easily remember the ones she found trickier to play.

"Carrie, help me out here. _CSI: New York_ _is _better than _CSI: Miami_, right?" Shane interrupted her concentration and she looked like she wanted to hit him over the head with her guitar.

"Dad! I almost had it then and you distracted me!" she cried. She tried to position her fingers on the neck of the guitar again. "But yes, it is. Although, Grey's Anatomy is better than both of them."

"Thank you! And I'm sorry," Shane said.

"Shut up!" she snapped, still focusing on the guitar. She was slightly sticking her tongue out and she was frowning slightly like she always did when she was concentrating really hard on something.

Shane held up his hands in silent surrender and turned back to Eve to throw everything Carrie said in her face.

"This hurts your fingers," Carrie complained, looking at the cut she'd just given herself on one of the strings.

"Yeah, you get used to it after a while though, and the skin on the ends of your fingers develops so it doesn't hurt as much," Michael said, showing her the ends of his fingers to back himself up.

"And how long does that take?" Carrie asked, wiping the tiny amount of blood on her jeans. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Well, you have to keep playing regularly, but it starts to develop after a few months," Michael was looking at the cut on her finger and I noticed that the colour had drained from his face and there was a small amount of red starting to cluster in his eyes. I remembered that he was a vampire and had a _slight_ craving for blood.

"Michael? You okay?" I asked trying to snap him out of it. Carrie hadn't noticed, thank God.

"I- um...yeah. I just- I need to go and get something to...um...drink," he said and got up, just slow enough to pass as a human, and walked – quickly – into the kitchen. I followed him.

I found him drinking from one of the sports bottles he'd brought with him. He drained it just as I got through the door.

"Sorry about that," he said. He was looking down at the floor and picking at the paper label around the bottle.

"It's okay. I don't think she noticed anything," I said. He looked really down now so I walked up to him and gave him a hug. After all, hugs make everything better. Almost everything anyway. "Do you want me to get her to change her jeans? She wiped the blood on them."

"No it's okay. She'll think I'm weird if you ask her to do that. And she'll think you're weird," I could hear the smile in his voice so I stepped back and looked him in the eye.

"I've asked her to do weirder things. I am her mom, so she has to do what I tell her to. I'll just tell her to not wipe blood on her jeans and to go change or something," I said to him. He just shook his head, blonde curls falling straight back into the right place when he stopped.

"I'm okay. It was only a little bit anyway. I can deal," I raised my eyebrows when he said this, but didn't push the subject any further.

"How's everything going back home?" I asked, wanting to change the subject. "How's work?"

"Okay I guess. Still the same old Morganville. Still the same old dusty, quiet, middle-of-no-where, Texan town it was when you were there," he replied. "Still full of vampires."

He looked out the window when he said that. There was a sad shine in his eyes and his shoulders were slightly drooping.

"I just wish I could get Eve to leave. Go somewhere safe. Somewhere where she can go out in the middle of the night and not have to carry silver-plated stakes and whatever," I knew he meant it. He loved her, but wanted her to be as safe as possible.

"You and I both know that will never happen, Michael. Not until you're allowed to leave with her," I sighed.

"And you and I both know that will _never _happen. The only other place I'd be allowed to go is Blacke, and that place is, if you ask me, even worse than Morganville," he said. He threw the sports bottle into the bag him and Eve had brought with their pyjamas and changes of clothes in with a little too much force when his phone rang, blasting _Born to be Free_ as his ringtone. He let out a groan and picked it up.

"Hello," he said, leaning back against the counter. I couldn't hear the other person talking, but I guessed it was Amelie.

"Look, Amelie," I was right. It was Amelie. "I know you hate this, but I need a life. I need to be able to feel as human as possible or God knows what I'll do. I'm not Shane, but I'm still a guy and I still go crazy if I don't get what I want." he'd lowered his voice so Carrie wouldn't overhear him. She didn't know he was a vampire. She probably wondered why he looked only a few years older than her, but she – luckily for us – knew other people (humans) who looked years younger than they actually were.

"I don't care. Amelie, I have never cared! What makes you think that will change now?" I could tell he was frustrated and wanted to hit Amelie around the head to knock a bit of sense into her. To be honest, I wanted to, too.

The look on his face went from angry to extremely worried very quickly and very suddenly. He ran into the living room and I followed, as fast as I could. I found him looking around then running up the stairs. Shane and Eve hadn't noticed him so I followed again. He slammed open the door to Carrie's bedroom. I ran in behind him, not really sure what to expect. I didn't know what had caused his sudden change of attitude, but I knew it was not good. I knew from the way he'd reacted that Amelie had said something about Carrie. Michael had put his phone back in his pocket and was looking around Carrie's bedroom, trying not to make it obvious that he was checking for any signs of vampires or any dangers to her.

"Um...hi?" she looked confused. She sounded confused too.

"Hey," Michael said. "Carrie, can you come downstairs please?"

"I- yeah," she said and got up off her bed. "Why?"

There was a huge crash downstairs and Michael ran off. Vampire speed. Carrie was staring at the empty space that he'd been stood in a second before.

"How did he move so fast?" she asked. "Is that even possible?"

I didn't answer her. Instead I moved to her side and put my arms around her, stroking her hair.

"Mom, what's going on? Why did Michael want me to go downstairs?" her voice was shaky and I could feel that her palms were a little sweaty. I still didn't answer. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if there was anything I could say without telling her about vampires and that was the last thing I wanted to do. If she knew, we might have to move back to Morganville, and I didn't want that for her. Or for Shane.

Speak of the devil. As soon as his name crossed my thoughts he came bounding up the stairs and into Carrie's bedroom, plopping down next to her on the bed and pulling her into the safety of his arms.

"Dad, what's going on?" she whispered. I could practically hear the tears in her voice. She was gripping my hand with one of her cold, damp ones and clinging onto Shane's arm with the other.

"Carrie, there's something you need to know. Something you probably won't believe, but you need to know this," he said. I looked at him with a warning look on my face, shaking my head. He was right, she needed to know, but I didn't want her to. He looked at me with sad eyes and I saw a sigh go right through his body.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Morganville is a town full of...secrets," he said, trying to figure out how to word what he was about to say without freaking her out. "There are things in Morganville that there aren't anywhere else in the entire world. Well, there's one other town, but that's pretty much run by Morganville and the...um..."

"Shane, no!" Eve was stood in the doorway with her hands held out in a 'stop' position. She had a crazed look on her face. "Shane, don't! Please, don't! It isn't worth it." she was practically yelling at him. There was another crash downstairs and I looked at her with wide, questioning eyes. Carrie had her head in the crook of Shane's neck and he was rocking her back and forth gently, stroking her hair. She was still gripping my hand, but I could feel it shaking.

_**Shane's POV**_

Calming your daughter down is a lot easier when she's upset about her boyfriend cheating on her and you can just take her out for ice cream or tell her you'll beat him up next time you see him. When she has no idea what's going on, or why something bad is happening, it's like swearing that the grass will turn blue tomorrow naturally. I could feel the tears soaking through my t-shirt and her hands were shaking like crazy, but nothing I said was calming her down.

There was one last crash before silence. Not a silence that we'd been praying for, for the last five minutes, but a silence that guarantees something had happened. The silence was killing me and me, Claire and Eve were all staring at the empty doorway expecting something more. Expecting someone to come up the stairs or jump out at us. Nothing happened, though. After another five minutes of waiting Eve and Claire got up to go downstairs. I wanted to follow them, but Carrie was still crying and I didn't want to leave her incase someone _was _waiting.

I heard a scream. _Claire._ I thought. That was Claire's scream. I waited for Eve's, but it never came. I had my hand holding Carrie's head to my chest. She didn't look up or try to fight the restraint when her mom screamed. I looked down at her and realised she'd stopped crying. Her eyes were closed and she looked...peaceful. She'd fallen asleep and, as much as I didn't want to, I lay her down on her bed and tucked her in. I didn't want to leave her, but I had to go and see why Claire had screamed and why Eve was yelling at her to move out of the way. I took one last look around my daughter's bedroom (checking in the closet and under her bed like she made me do when she was little) just incase there were any real monsters under there, and made my way out. I left her door open after a long debate with myself, but turned out her light.

When I got downstairs, I saw Eve being held back from the kitchen door by Claire, who looked like she'd seen a ghost. Then I realised that was possible and ran to her side.

"Claire, what's happened?" I asked, holding her arms and making her look at me. She let go of Eve to fall into my arms and Eve slammed the door open, probably denting the wall behind it. She didn't scream though. She stood there with her hands over her mouth staring at Michael, who was stood at the sink pouring the bottles of blood down the drain. _What? _I thought to myself.

"Mike, what the hell are you doing?" I asked. I was genuinely concerned. Vampires don't just pour blood down the drain. He turned around to face me. There was something different about him. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but he was different. Maybe it was the more human skin tone he'd suddenly acquired. Or the wrinkles that were starting to form around his eyes that I'd never noticed before. He didn't look eighteen anymore. He looked like he was in his forties, like he would if he wasn't a vampire.

_Like he would if he wasn't a vampire._


	9. Chapter 9

_**Eve's POV**_

I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. Michael looked like he had aged...but that's impossible. I think it's impossible, anyway. I wanted to run over to him and wrap my arms around him and make sure he was okay, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. So instead I stood there with my hands over my mouth, gawking like an idiot. It wasn't until I felt someone fall into the back of me that my mind came out of its temporary paralysis and I was able to move again. I turned around to see what had hit me. Claire. She'd managed to get out of Shane's grip and, in doing so, stumbled into me. I turned back around to face Michael, who was now staring at his hands.

"Michael?" I asked. My voice was unsteady and I found myself walking cautiously towards him as if he was an untamed lion that I didn't want to anger. "Michael, are you okay? What happened?" he wasn't answering me. He was still staring at himself, clenching his fists and releasing them. I found myself running towards him and throwing myself on him. He was..._warm._

_What's happening?_ I thought to myself. _Why is Michael suddenly not...cold? Why does he have a normal skin colour? Why can I hear...?_

I could hear something pulsing in his chest. Like a- like a heartbeat.

_Michael has a heartbeat?_ My mind was screaming. But...he can't have a heartbeat. He's a vampire. That's just not how it works!

His arms wrapped around my waist as I clung onto his neck. I could hear Shane's deep voice in the background, but I couldn't work out what he was saying. I couldn't focus on anything because of the amount of noise there was in my head.

_**Michael's POV**_

Eve had her arms around my neck. I was finding it hard to breathe. Wait, what? I don't need to breathe! I'm a vampire! Why would I be finding it hard to breathe? One of my hands was gripping my opposite wrist and I could feel a pulse. For the first time since I was eighteen I could feel a pulse. I had no idea what was going on. I just remember getting a call from Amelie, wanting to make sure Carrie was okay, then running downstairs after hearing a crash. The rest is darkness. And a lot of pain. Then I woke up with my head by the bottles of blood me and Eve had brought along incase I needed them. I found that disgusting so poured them down the drain. I couldn't even smell the blood I was throwing away. It was really unappealing and it's a good job we'd already eaten, because it really took my appetite with it.

I was staring at my hands again. They looked...older. I felt older too, like my body wasn't as fit as it had been five minutes before. Like I couldn't jump from the top floor of a building and land with cat-like grace. Like I couldn't beat a motorbike in a race.

I was brought back into the real world with Claire pressing my phone into my hand. I looked at the screen and the caller ID said _Amelie_.

_Great. _I thought. _What does she want now?_

"Hello?" I answered. I knew it sounded tired and like I'd rather not be talking to her again, but I couldn't keep that tone out of my voice and I knew it.

"Michael, I assume you're feeling a little...different," she said. I knew what she meant; I _did_ feel different.

"Yeah I do. What happened to me?" I replied.

"Well, Myrnin and Claire had been working on a formula for about a year before she left Morganville and Myrnin has been developing it ever since," she sounded happy. Kind of.

"And what does this formula do?" I was wary now. Myrnin's 'formulas' were never very successful. Claire I trusted though. But not if she hadn't been working on it _with_ Myrnin like Amelie was implying. Not if Myrnin had been working on it by himself.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Carrie's POV**_

Michael had been pacing back and forth for over half an hour and he wouldn't talk to anyone. He kept looking up at my mom then down at his phone, scrolling through his contact list, selecting someone, then shutting his phone off again before it could call. Every time someone tried to ask him what was wrong he would snap and no one would carry on the conversation. You could almost see the tension rising in the room. It was awkward and no one knew what to say, so no one said anything.

Finally, I snapped. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Michael, seriously what's up?"

"Nothing," his tone was sharp and, usually, I would've shut up but this time I didn't. I couldn't.

"Don't lie, Michael. Everyone can see there's something bothering you," I said. He realised I wasn't giving up and stopped pacing to turn around and face me. He looked me in the eyes.

"I just don't feel..." he trailed off.

"You don't _look_ either, Mike," my dad added. _What the hell?_ I thought.

"Or seem," Eve put in. Now I really was confused. What were they talking about? They all looked at me and I knew from the look on all of their faces that they wanted me to leave the room for a few minutes while they had a 'talk'.

Mom's phone rang then and she checked the ID. It was an unknown number, but she picked up anyway.

_**Claire's POV**_

My phone rang and I saw the number. I didn't have it anymore, but I knew it was Myrnin. Great.

"Hello?"

"Claire, it worked!" I had no idea what he was talking about and he must of sensed that because he carried on, "the formula! You know? The one that reverses the change?"

"I-," I honestly had no idea what he was going on about, and I thought he was just having a crazy moment. "Oh my God! Myrnin how the hell did you get it to work? I thought you ditched it when I left town?"

"So did I, until Amelie came to me a year and a half ago asking about the progress of it. I had to carry on working on it after that. She said she thought Michael deserved a...chance to live the life he wanted while he still could," he said.

"And it worked? He's not, y'know..." I found myself trailing off, not really sure if me and Myrnin were talking about the same thing. After all, you never truly knew with him.

"According to my research and test results, no he is not," he hung up abruptly, without a warning.

I stared at Michael for a few seconds before Eve broke me out of my trance.

"He's not a-" she held up two fingers in the shape of a 'V' for 'Vampire' behind Carrie's back so she wouldn't see.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'P'.

"You're kidding," Shane said. Trust him to be the skeptical one.

"Nope," I repeated.

"Did I ever tell you how amazing you are?" he asked me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

"I think you might have, but you'll have to tell me again. I forgot," I winked at him and he kissed me this time.

"Guys, please, get a freakin' room!" Carrie and Eve said simultaneously. Me, Shane and Michael laughed at them.

"Carrie, go to bed. It's past your bedtime," Shane said in a baby voice, trying to embarrass her, but Eve and Michael were like family to her so it didn't work. She stood there with her arms crossed, refusing. "Carrie, I'm serious. It's like, eleven forty-eight," she looked at the clock and realised Shane was right. She sighed and dragged her feet up the stairs.

So that's it. Michael isn't a vampire anymore. I could see the confusion on Shane and Eve's face, so I decided to tell them what was going on.

"Guys, me and Myrnin started developing a formula about eighteen years ago that would hopefully reverse the transition from human to vampire. Now because a lot of vampires are really old, it wouldn't work on most because their age would catch up with them and they'd end up rotting in a grave as soon as they took the solution," I could see the curiosity and the confusion in my friends' faces, so I pressed on. "Basically, it's got human blood in it to try and get some blood flowing around the body. It also has a chemical in that helps sustain energy, sugar and other substance levels while the body is getting used to being human again."

"Again, did I ever tell you how amazing you are?" Shane interrupted me and I couldn't help but grin.

"Perhaps, once or twice," I replied. He smiled at me, the smile he'd always given me where one side of his mouth comes up a little higher than the other, my favourite smile.

"So what does this mean for me?" Michael asked. His voice was shaky and he looked like he wanted to throw up.

"That you, my brother, are no longer part of the plasma-craving community," Shane said and threw a hand in the air for Michael to high-five, which he did with a lot of enthusiasm.

_**Michael's POV**_

There were so many different thoughts running through my head when Claire told me I was human. _Human._ It felt weird to call myself that after so long. Being human again opened up so many doors of opportunity; I might finally be able to pursue the music career I've so badly wanted for so long. I might finally be able to get Eve out of Morganville. We could grow old together knowing that we're in a safe town, maybe even be Shane and Claire's neighbours. There was one thought that I kept coming back to, though. _Kids._ I knew Eve wanted them and, after watching Carrie grow up and seeing how happy Shane was when he found out he was going to be a dad, I wanted them too. Me and Eve were older than Claire and Shane had been when they decided to start a family though, so I didn't know if Eve would be so keen on the idea anymore.

If only there had been a way to reverse this change ten years ago. Although, I'm not complaining! I still wasn't one hundred per cent happy that it was Myrnin, and Myrnin alone, that had worked on this. I don't hate the guy, but he's crazy and I don't particularly trust him.

There is a reason I don't trust him, and the fact that as soon as the thought crossed my mind I had to dash to the bathroom to puke my guts up proved that you – or, I – really should be more careful. Damn.

_**Shane's POV**_

In the middle of our happy celebrations Michael dashed out the room and up the stairs, heading to where I could only guess was the bathroom. Eve chased after him, as did me and Claire. We reached the bathroom seconds after Eve, who was already crouched down with one hand on Michael's back and the other stroking his hair, soothing him. I looked at Claire, who was currently turning slightly green, and pulled her back out of the bathroom. I knew Michael didn't really want us seeing him throw up, and I knew if Claire stood there much longer the smell would get to her and she'd throw up too. We kept walking backwards until we hit a door. Or, we should've hit a door, but someone had left it wide open so we fell right through it, landing in a heap on the floor.

Claire was looking scared. Like she'd done something wrong.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked her, taking a strand of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

"Yeah I just- um...do you think Michael's okay?" she asked. She kept staring out the door. I pulled her into my arms and rocked her back and forth gently.

"I'm sure he's fine, Claire. His body is just getting used to being human again, that's all," I really did believe that, but I knew Claire didn't. I knew she wouldn't unless I proved it. _Scientists, _I thought. _Who needs them?  
_"What if he isn't?" she pressed on. "What if I did something wrong, or lead Amelie and Myrnin to believe that this was really possible, and I've killed Michael? They had hardly any other test subjects because Michael's one of the only vampires young enough to be able to cope with the change." She broke down into tears then and all I could do was hold her tight and try and assure her that everything would be fine. So that's what I did.

When Michael came back out of the bathroom it looked like Eve was holding him up and he was paler than he'd ever been as a vampire.

**A/N: Sorry I didn't update last week. It's my Easter holiday and I was in Spain for the week. Please R&R! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Michael's POV**_

I have never felt so sick in my entire life. It's like I have no energy at all; I can't even stand up without collapsing after a few seconds. My head feels as if there is someone pounding against my skull with a sledge hammer, then fifty elephants trampling it. Eve hasn't left my side since I threw up, and every time I go to tell her I'm fine I feel my dinner coming back up and I have to shut my mouth. Claire has been hugging Eve for about half an hour trying to calm her down and Shane keeps going to get me more water. I've tried eating too, but I can't keep anything down for more than about two minutes. I can tell Claire thinks this is her fault, but it isn't. It's Myrnin's. I could kill him right now if it wasn't for the fact that I can't summon the strength to sit up off the couch, let alone shove a stake through his heart. And I'm not a vampire anymore so I'd be killed for it. There was a knock at the door and I heard Shane curse along with _"Who the hell decides to visit people at two a.m.? Swear to God if they're carol singers..." _and that made me smile. I heard him stomp out of the room and open the door.

"Who the hell do you thi-," Shane started, but stopped himself abruptly. "Amelie, hi. Um, come in?"

_Oh God, _I thought. _This can't be good._

"I'm sure you know who the..._hell _I think I am, Mr Collins," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm that I didn't know she knew existed. If I could, I would have laughed to myself at that. "I believe Mr Glass is here, correct?"

Shane must have nodded his head in reply to this because I didn't hear him say anything.

"Very well, I shall come in," I heard the front door close again and footsteps crossing the hallway and entering the living room.

I knew she'd want to talk to me, but I didn't want to even look at her. It felt like I had lead weights tied to my eyelids when I tried to open them. I grunted and tried again, this time I had more success and managed to turn my head to look at her. She honestly looked worried.

"Mr Glass, you look...-" I cut her off before she could finish.

"You dare tell me I look worse for wear and I'll stake you," I said. I didn't care that she could kill me in a second. I could see Shane stood behind her trying to hold a laugh in.

"Mr Glass, you will respect me," she said, sternly.

"You can't tell me what to do after you did this to me," I gestured to myself.

She thought about that for a second before shaking it off and carrying on the conversation.

"This is completely normal. The sickness, I mean. It would be best for you to rest for a few days. I'm sure Claire and Shane can find a spare room for you here, it seems to have a few of them that you could stay in,"

"Yeah, 'cause we'd really let him leave in this state anyway," Shane cut in matching Amelie's sarcasm from before. She ignored his comment and turned to Claire.

"Can you please control him?" she asked. Shane was laughing again and had to turn away to hide it.

"Sorry, some people never change," she said, also trying not to laugh.

"Evidently," Amelie said, ending the conversation. With that she left. I wanted to ask her about, well, everything, but I couldn't be bothered so I let her go.

Shane came back into the room after letting Amelie out.

"Hey man, you okay?" he asked.

"Been better," I said. I felt his hand slap my back and knew Eve and Claire would be rolling their eyes at us.

"I'll take Eve back to Morganville tomorrow so she can get you two some stuff for the next few days,"

"Thanks," I really didn't feel like talking and Shane must have sensed this because I heard him get up and move and start to talk to Claire instead.

"I think they only spare sheets we've got are Carrie's," I heard him say. "I don't know about Eve, but I don't think Michael would appreciate sleeping in a bed covered in fairies, glitter and flowers."

"There's already a set of spare sheets on the bed in the guest room anyway," Claire said in a _I-Could-Slap-You-Upside-The-Head-Right-Now-Idiot_ kind of tone. "And has Carrie even got any sheets with glitter, fairies or flowers on anymore?"

"Guys don't worry about it. Seriously, it isn't worth the hassle. If we have to sleep with girly sheets it's fine. I mean, we're going to be asleep anyway so it doesn't really matter," Eve said.

"Yeah, that's what I said when I had to use those sheets when Claire was away one time. It's kind of creepy what with all the pink staring at you," Shane said.

"_Pink _can't stare at anything, Shane," Claire told him.

"_Pink can't stare at anything, Shane,_" Shane mocked. "Trust me, it can, and it's really intimidating." Me, Eve and Claire started laughing.

"When was this?" Claire asked. "The last time Carrie let us buy her anything pink was when she was about five!"

"Yeah, it was a while ago," Shane replied. "She buys herself pink stuff though. She bought herself a pair of pink Converse like, last week. And she buys herself a lot of pink clothes because apparently pink looks _best_ on her."

"I don't think she's ever said that pink looks best on her,"

"No, me either. I was just trying to prove a point..." Shane trailed off. "Hey, where did she get the money for a pair of Converse?"

"She's been saving up for about four months. It's taken you this long for that question to pop into your head?"

"It's been a week. I don't think that classes as a long period of time,"

"Just go make sure the guest room is clean,"

"And if it isn't?"

"Clean it,"

"Eye eye, Captain,"

"Go. Now," Claire pointed at the door and Shane left.

Once Shane left I rolled over so I was facing everyone and I smiled at Claire.

"You know, you two should be one of those travelling comedy pairs," I told her and she raised her eyebrows.

"Really? Most people think he's funnier with Carrie," I thought about that for a moment and realised she was right. Shane and Carrie are hilarious together.

"How do you cope? I think I'd have died of laughter by now," Eve said.

"You find Shane funny?" Claire asked, her eyebrows going even higher.

"Well, yeah. Sure, I make out that I don't care about anything he says, but he's really funny sometimes,"

"Thank you, thank you. Seriously guys, stop! You're embarrassing me!" Shane jumped the last two stairs and took a bow then pointed at Eve and winked at her. "And Eve, don't expect me to ever take you seriously again."

"Oh god, look what you've gotten me into, Claire!" she half-yelled-half-whispered once she remembered I was sick and Carrie was upstairs asleep.

"You said it, not me," Claire defended herself. "We should probably go to bed, it's really late."

"Yes _mom_," Shane said and dropped his hands to his sides and stuck his bottom lip out.

"Is the guest room clean?" she asked Shane, all serious now.

"Yep. I even did that thing where you slide your finger across the top of the dresser to check for dust. There wasn't a speck in sight," Shane said, looking extremely proud of himself.

Eve reached up and patted his head. "Good boy," she said and he rolled his eyes at her and walked into the kitchen.

He came out after a minute with a glass of water and some Aspirin for me to take to bed with me incase I needed them and helped me get up off the couch. Him and Eve supported me up the stairs and Claire opened the door for us when we got to the guest room. Shane hadn't lied, it was clean.

I didn't even have it in me to get changed. I just wanted to crawl under the (not pink, glittery, sparkly or covered in fairies or flowers) covers and sleep until I felt better, but I find it really uncomfortable to sleep in jeans so I kicked them off and put a pair of sweatpants on after Claire and Shane had left. I had a temperature, so I left my shirt off. As tired as I was, I lay there for about an hour tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep.

_**Shane's POV**_

I was really worried about Michael. I mean, I've never seen him this sick before and even if Amelie did say it would wear off in a few days, he had to survive those few days first. I was keeping myself awake for no reason at all. He's not the first person to be this sick. He'll be fine. He just needs to rest. I tried to fall asleep, but every time I got close I started thinking about Michael again. I didn't realise I was tightening my grip around Claire's waist until she started pulling on my arms.

"Shane, too tight," she whispered.

"Sorry," I said and relaxed a little and she turned over to face me.

"Are you okay?" she asked, touching a hand to my face. I looked into her eyes and rested my forehead against hers, letting out a big sigh.

"Yeah, I'm good," I kissed her nose and she smiled.

"Are you worrying about Michael?" she'd hit the nail on the head. I knew she would. She's been able to guess exactly what I'm thinking from the day we met. If we weren't married, I'd say it was kind of creepy.

"Little bit," I sighed again and looked at the wall on the far side of the room.

"He'll be okay, Shane. Trust me," Claire whispered and snuggled into my chest, where I held her tight, keeping her close to me.

"I trust you," I said into her hair. I felt her fall asleep as I drew small circles on her back. "I trust you."

In the next few minutes I was asleep too.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've had GCSEs (not fun) so I've been revising like crazy and this is the first chance I've had to update! I have my last one for a while tomorrow, so I should be able to update a lot more regularly. Also, 11 DAYS UNTIL FALL OF NIGHT IS RELEASED! (In the UK, anyway!)**

**Please review! :)**

**Carrie's POV**

Michael has been sick for about a week and a half now. He spent New Year shivering like you would if you were in the Arctic wearing shorts and a t shirt, and he doesn't seem to be getting better. Dad says he'll be fine, but I can see the fear behind the smile when he says it. I'm back at school but I'm finding it really hard to focus on anything knowing there is someone with an undiagnosable fever in the bedroom next to mine, probably throwing his guts up at any given time. Michael said him and Eve will be going back to Morganville in the next few days, but my mom keeps insisting they stay until he's a bit better. He looks really old, too. Worn out. I saw him briefly this morning while I was toasting a Pop Tart for breakfast and he said hey. He sounded a little better, but I didn't see his face for more than a second, so I couldn't tell if he was on the mend.

"Hello? Anybody in there?" A hand waving in front of my face brought me back to focus. It was Ally. She must have sat down while I was trapped inside my thoughts.

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled and shoved food in my mouth.

"Is everything okay? You've been really quiet recently," she sounded concerned and I looked up into eyes that had a thousand questions to ask.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm just tired," I lied. I had my head down so I hoped she couldn't tell. It turns out she couldn't.

"Right okay," the conversation ended there. I felt bad; we hadn't had a proper conversation in days because I'd been too busy worrying that there was something waiting to jump out at me or take me away. I don't know why, but I think the calls Michael got on Christmas day had made me paranoid. He had mentioned my name a few times.

After lunch I walked to the gym to find my dad. He was the coach here. I ended up having to walk around the entire school to locate him because he wasn't in his office. I finally found him at the vending machine by the science classrooms.

"Hey dad," I said, making him hit his head on the machine, which made me laugh.

"Jesus, Carrie. Don't sneak up on people like that," he held his head, being overly dramatic.

"Sorry. I thought you'd have heard me," I murmured. he usually tells me I'm heavy footed. Apparently not all the time.

"You ok?" he asked, handing me half of the chocolate bar he'd just bought. That was very generous of my dad. I sighed and shrugged my shoulders before answering.

"Yeah," I paused, thinking about why I came to talk to him. Without meaning to, I broke down into tears.

"Hey," dad pulled me into a hug and I wrapped my arms around him, crying my heart out. "Are you really ok?"

"Is Michael really going to be ok? He's been the same for about two weeks now, no improvement,"

"He's fine. He seemed loads better this morning, too. Just one of those winter flu things,"

"Winter flu? It came on extremely suddenly for the flu,"

"Maybe it was food poisoning then. You know what Eve's cooking is like,"

That made me laugh. I sniffled and pulled back, wiping my eyes.

"Surely we'd all have food poisoning too then? I mean, we _all _ate Eve's food," I said with a grin.

"Oh shut up, smart arse," dad said. I laughed again and sighed.

My dad reached out and ruffled my hair then held out his fist. We fist bumped and I ate the half of the chocolate bar he'd given me. It was starting to melt so I made a mess. We walked to my locker so I could clean myself up. On the way we talked about nothing in general, mostly what to get mom for her upcoming birthday and where we could go on vacation over spring break, which was a few months away yet, but we always plan ahead. It's a Collins thing. I grabbed a tissue out of my locker and wiped my face and hands when we got there. Dad was looking at the pictures I'd hung on the inside. There were a few of me, him and mom, but they were really small, like the wallet-sized ones you get. Most of them were of me and Ally.

Just then the bell went and I groaned.

"What's up?" he asked me.

"I have English," I replied with an eye roll.

"What's wrong with English?"

"Everything,"

He smiled and I shut my locker, leaning against it to wait for Ally. We had English together.

"I'll see you later," he said before walking off.

"See ya," I said and faced in the direction of the canteen, where I guessed Ally was coming from.

I guessed right. About thirty seconds after my dad left, she came strutting up the hallway doing her best I'm-the-most-popular-girl-in-school impression. We always did it to make each other laugh, because we found the walk that the 'Popular Girls' did hilarious. We never wore heels though, so it made it look even funnier doing it in Converse or, in the summer usually, Keds.

"That was the best yet," I said, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of my eyes.

"Why thank you," she replied, holding out her arm. I linked mine with hers and we strutted back down the hallway, laughing at the weird looks we were getting. I do love my best friend.

**After school...**

I waited for my dad outside the gym after my last class. I knew he'd probably be a bit late because the class he taught last on a Wednesday (today) usually had at least eight detentions given out. I think my dad just liked giving people detentions though. He never really had to tell me off at home, so school was his chance to punish people. He finally came out looking extremely happy with himself as five (completely hot) guys trailed out after him. He pointed at them with an I'm-deadly-serious-right-now look on his face.

"I better see you five at hockey practise tomorrow. You miss another one and you're off the team. I mean it," he said sternly. They nodded.

"Yes coach," the chorused. They all sounded really sorry for themselves, which made me laugh. Dad turned around and looked at me.

"No laughing," he said, giving me the best teacher look he could.

"Yes coach. Won't happen again, coach," I mimicked the boys, who all stared at me like I was from another planet.

"You look so much like each other," one of them said. He had light brown hair and really dark brown eyes. He was really, _really_ cute.

"Dude that's weird," another one said. He too had brown hair, but it was a few shades darker than the first guy. Their eyes were pretty much the same colour. "Who says that?"

"Yeah but look at them. They're like twins or something," the first guy said. The others were stood there staring at us, probably trying to figure out if Guy One was right or not. Me and my dad were both trying really hard not to laugh.

"That's impossible," I cut in. "I mean, he's like twenty-something years older than me. We can't be twins."

Guy Two raised his eyebrows.

"I think you should give her detention for cheeking seniors, coach," he said.

"I think you should give them detention for telling you to give me detention, _dad,_"I emphasised the word 'dad' and all five guys' eyebrows shot up so far I thought they'd fly off their heads.

The three that hadn't said a word all turned and walked off, but the other two stayed and argued.

"I told you they look alike!" Guy One said. I really should ask what their names are.

"Yeah but you said they're like twins, which obviously is impossible," Guy Two replied. Me and my dad were about to walk away when they turned to me.

"You a sophomore?" Guy One asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I know you. Do you know a girl called Ally? Ally Greene?"

"Yeah, we're friends, why?"

"She's my sister. Next time you see her, or talk to her, or whatever, tell her to get off her ass and clean up all her cat's mess. You should see the living room. It is covered in cat fur and toys and stuff,"

"Um, okay. Why can't you tell her yourself?"

"She hates me," he winked at me. "But that's a story for another time."

"Okay, well I should go," I said, realising my dad was stood by the car waiting for me.

"I'll see you around," he said.

"Yeah, see you around,"

When I got to the car, my dad was stood leaning against it with his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised. What is it with people and raised eyebrows? That's my thing.

"Made a new friend?" he asked as I got closer.

"No. He's Ally's brother. I didn't know she had a brother," I said as I opened the passenger side door and got in.

"Guess you learn something new everyday," dad said as he started the engine and backed out of the parking lot.


	13. Chapter 13

**Michael's POV**

I looked in the mirror for the hundredth time today. I hadn't looked since Christmas Day. Hadn't had the energy. I went and stood by the window in the sunlight. It still burnt me, which – according to Amelie – shouldn't happen. I knew better than to think I was human again, although I didn't tell anyone. As clever as Myrnin is, he wouldn't be able to come up with a way to change me back. It just isn't possible. I'd been stood by the window, trapped in my thoughts, for about five minutes. The pain from the sunlight was bearable. A little like a headache that you know will disappear in a few minutes, except I don't know if this will go away. Looking down at my hands, I realised my skin wasn't turning pink like it did when I was a vampire; it was turning... well it looked like I was getting a tan ten times faster than humans. I stepped back before it looked like I'd been in a tanning salon.

I turned around when heard the door open. It was Claire. I figured she knew that I wasn't completely human because, well, she's a scientist and she was there when this... formula was started on. She didn't say anything though. Maybe she thought I had hope.

"Do you want anything? A drink or something to eat?" she asked. "No one is using the TV if you want to watch something. You need to be quick though, Carrie and Shane will be home soon and one of them will put dibs on it."

I looked down and laughed. "I'm okay, thanks," I said. I felt rude, but I wasn't in the mood to eat or drink, or even kill some zombies.

"Okay. Well, if you change your mind I'll be in the living room," she walked towards me until I could see her feet. I looked up and she met my eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Is Eve here?" I asked, completely avoiding her question. I saw the sigh run through her body.

"Yeah she's in the kitchen," she replied.

"I'm not human," I said. She looked shocked and surprised when I said it.

"I- what do you mean?"

"Don't pretend you don't know, Claire. I know you can tell,"

"I'm sorry, Michael. I don't think it's possible for you to ever be fully human again," she was kicking the toes of her shoes like she used to when we were teenagers. "Sorry." she repeated.

"It's okay. I didn't ever expect that it was possible," I sighed. "I just don't want Eve getting her hopes up about anything."

"You should tell her, you know," Claire was looking me in the eye now. There was something about her that was kind of intimidating... kind of persuasive about the way she said it. It must be a mom thing.

"Yeah," I sighed again and heard the front door opening, then raised voices, then someone running up the stairs.

"Your chance to watch TV is over," Claire said and winked at me. I grinned at her and walked towards the door. Before I walked out I turned back around to face her.

"Wanna bet?" I asked, winking back and running down the stairs to battle with Shane. Then to kill some zombies with Shane.

When I got downstairs I saw Carrie holding something up in front of Shane's face. He was trying to watch something on TV but she was stood in the way.

"Can you just move?" he sounded exasperated.

"Not until you sign this," she looked annoyed, but in an amused kind of way. I sometimes wonder if Shane and Carrie know their father and daughter, not brother and sister.

"I won't sign it until you move,"

"I won't move until you sign it, because if I move you'll carry on watching TV and forget you need to _sign this_,"

"Get your mom to sign it then,"

"She already has. I need you to sign it,"

The TV went blank. Shane turned around to see Claire holding the remote and looking tired.

"Can you just sign it? Please?" she asked, sounding even more tired than she looked.

Shane reached out blindly behind him and Carrie placed whatever it was he needed to sign in his hand. He then held out his hand for the pen, which she also put in his hand.

Shane got up and walked over to Claire and pulled her out into the hallway.

"Are you feeling alright?" he looked worried.

"Yeah, why?" they were both whispering.

"You look worn out. Like you need some rest,"

"Just had a long day,"

Claire stepped forward into Shane's embrace and he wrapped his arms around her. It was comforting to see that their relationship hadn't really ever changed. It was still as strong as it had been when Claire was seventeen and Shane was nineteen.

I felt like I was intruding on something personal all of a sudden, so I walked off to find Eve. Like Claire said, she was in the kitchen. She was reading the local newspaper.

"Hey Michael," she said, with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey baby," I sat down next to her and looked over her shoulder at what she was reading.

"The news stories are way more interesting her, you know. There was this cat that was caught climbing the side of the apartment building a few blocks from here, you know the really tall one that looks like it could fit all of this town and Morganville in it?" she was laughing by the time she finished.

"Wow. Interesting," I mocked her tone and she socked my arm. "Ow." It didn't hurt though.

"Eve, we need to talk," I said, holding her hand.

"Okay, this doesn't sound good," she said and closed the newspaper.

"I'm never going to be human again," she went to interrupt me, but I cut in quickly. "I don't know what I am right now, but I'm not human."

"But I thought-" I cut in again.

"Eve, there are some things that are believable for a few minutes, but when you think about it, you realise it's just wishful thinking. This is wishful thinking. And I'm sorry," I murmured.

I thought she'd start crying like usual, but instead she stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"You know I'd love you if you were Shrek, right?" she laughed. "I don't care if you're a vampire or not. It makes no difference to me. You don't have to apologise."

"I am going to find out what I am though,"

"And I'll be right behind you,"

"I love yo-"

"Loved you first," Eve winked at me and walked off, yelling Claire and Carrie's names. I smiled and walked in the opposite direction, calling Shane's name.

Or I went to. Until the world went black and my head hit the floor.

**Okay, so this is chapter 13. You see, 13 is my favourite number, so if you never review any of this story ever again, PLEASE REVIEW THIS ONE! I really will love you forever :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Eve's POV**

Michael wasn't human. So what? I fell in love with a vampire (well, he was human when I first fancied him, but he was a ghost thing when we started dating) that isn't going to change now. Although, he technically _isn't _a vampire anymore. At least, I don't think he is. I think he expected me to freak out and cry when he told me he actually wasn't human, but I used to be goth. It kind of comes with the territory that I don't get freaked by things like that. I was going to find out what he really was though. Just for peace of mind. Maybe he's half-vampire-half-human. He still has the hearing and speed of a vampire, he just doesn't crave blood anymore. I have noticed that he seems to look younger every passing day. Originally, he looked about 40, like he would if he was human, but how he looks more around 30. I find it kind of weird that Carrie hasn't noticed anything. But maybe Michael is like Hogwarts. Maybe he's always looked normal to her so she doesn't notice. You know like Hogwarts looks really old and dangerous to Muggles? Maybe Carrie's the Muggle in all of this. Or maybe I'm just over thinking it all. I usually do.

Today was our last day with the Collins Clan, as I like to call them. I was busy packing my bags (and re-packing Michael's neatly) with Claire's help. Michael and Shane were downstairs watching TV, no help to us at all, and Carrie had gone out with her friends. It was nice spending time with Claire. It isn't like it used to be, I mean, we are quite a bit older now, but we still have a laugh and I keep her up-to-date with the goings on in Morganville. Usually about how Monica is completely irrelevant in the town these days. She has a family (don't ask how. I'm still trying to work that one out) and she still thinks she's the queen of the town, but with a new family in the Mayor's office, she just doesn't have the reputation she used to. I think secretly Claire likes Monica, just a little. I mean, because of Monica, she met Shane. As much as Shane hates Monica, I think he appreciates that too. Although, he never turns down the opportunity to bitch about her.

Claire broke the silence.

"Hey Eve, you better come back for my birthday. I can't spend the day without one of your inedible cakes,"

"I think you mean _incredible_ not _inedible_ Claire. And here I was, all this time, thinking you were the smart one,"

"Hmm, let me think about that... Nope, I'm pretty sure I mean inedible,"

"You say one more word about my amazing cake baking and I won't make you one," I winked at her.

"Oooh, I'm scared," she raised her hands to her mouth and did her best horror movie face impression. It was hilarious.

"You should be,"

We finished packing the bags while laughing really hard. In the end, we gave up doing it neatly because of how much we were shaking and neither of us could see clearly through the tears in our eyes.

"What's going on in here?" we heard a male voice at the door and both spun around. I almost had my laughter under control when I saw Claire from the corner of my eye collapse into a heap on the floor, still laughing as hard as we were before. She was clutching her stomach and rolling around in pain, but she couldn't stop laughing. I saw Shane appear at the door with a confused look on his face. It was like he wasn't sure whether to go and help her up or not. Claire now sounded like she was crying, but I could tell she wasn't. Michael was laughing at her and I could see Shane trying hard not to.

"Shane... you... better... not... laugh... at me... OWWW!" Claire gasped through bursts of laughter. She was still clutching her stomach.

It was too much for Shane though, and he ended up holding onto the door for support. I've always found his laugh funny – and so has Claire – and it was a rare occasion seeing Shane laugh for me, so it got me laughing just as bad as Claire. Sixteen years ago, it was a rare sight for any of us to see Shane laugh properly. I don't think Claire had even seen it. Not like this. Apparently, she still found it hilarious because she was pointing at him, unable to speak, and still laughing. She must be in so much pain.

Eventually, Shane and Michael stopped laughing and, through some sort of silent consent, picked us up and carried us downstairs, throwing us both on the couch when we got to the living room. That made us even worse. I don't even think we were laughing at anything in particular anymore. Shane sat down next to Claire and put his arm around her, trying to hold her still, while Michael picked a movie for us to watch. Horror. Great. As soon as the credits came up I stopped laughing and snuggled into Michael's side, trying to hide my face. I could hear Claire hiccuping as her laughter died down.

Soon enough, me and Claire we screaming and jumping at everything that appeared on screen. Michael and Shane kept telling us to shut up. Next time, we were _so _picking the movie.

By the time it ended Claire had fallen asleep and I could see Shane was starting to drift off too. He probably would've if Carrie hadn't decided to get home and make her entrance known to the world in the process. He jolted fully awake and shook the sleep out of his eyes. Michael checked his watch and sighed.

"We should probably start to head off," he said to me.

"Already? Really?" I must have sounded like a five-year-old.

"Yeah, it'll be dark soon and it's a long drive back,"

"You sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" Shane asked.

"Thanks man, but we probably shouldn't," Michael said. Shane raised his eyebrows, but didn't question further. We headed upstairs to grab our stuff while Shane woke Claire up.

"Carrie, Michael and Eve are leaving now!" Claire called up the stairs.

"Bye," Carrie called from her bedroom.

"Aren't you going to come out and say goodbye?" Claire asked.

We heard a thud then the door opened and she walked out.

Shane had gone to put our stuff in the trunk of the car while we said our goodbyes.

"See ya soon guys," I said. I didn't want to leave, but I knew we had to go back to Morganville at some point. I hugged Claire and walked to the car where Michael was waiting.

_Well, that was one hell of a trip_, I thought.

We set off in the direction of Morganville. Wish me luck.


End file.
